[right][sub]Timestamp: The day after the gym scene. Saturday as the sun sets. 
[color=gray][b]FT.[/b] [color=D3D3D3][b]Charlie Decker[/b][/color] [@BrutalBx][/color][/sub][/right]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/MfBeUyn.png[/img]

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What was she doing? The sun was setting and she found herself running to the cemetery to have a conversation with gravestone. Poppy had one hell of a day, far more productive than she’s ever had in a long time, and something she came across reminded her of Charlie and she just started booking it. Desperate, devastated, and drained, she held a book close to her heart that was so graciously given to her by Jericho and she just let her feet take her away. 

Penelope James had spent the day first, with therapy. Secondly, with Decky in the park, talking to Allegra, and then thirdly, with her mom, since she didn’t work at the cafe until tomorrow. Perks of a part timer. If she had things her way, she would’ve stayed in bed, like she’s been doing for the past year or so. Her mother had other plans for her. 

Victoria wanted to get her daughter out of the house, especially hearing how last night transpired for her child and her child’s friends. With a little nudge, Vicky gently dragged her daughter to her thrift store. The only expectation the mother had was to check on her daughter’s mental state and keep her out of the house. Knowing well enough Poppy wasn’t going to stay and sort clothes, Victoria patiently waited for her youngest to get antsy. And that she did.  

Taking initiative, Poppy gave her mother a peck on the cheek before walking to the music store where she was greeted by Uncle Eddie (he was everyone’s uncle in this town) and JP. They pleasantly greeted her and told her if she wanted to chat, they were there if she needed them. They didn’t intrude on anyone if they simply wanted the shop and music to take them away. 

The song [i]Elder Tree[/i] by the Gallows was playing in the background as she perused through the records and scanned the area of the instruments on display. It was remarkable that this shop was standing when everyone was converting to smartphones which could dual role as a music device. Still, there was something about a record that just sounded so much better. While she was going through a set of folk band music, searching for [i]Brown Bird[/i], one of her personal favorites, she glanced up at JP, noticing he was reading something. 

With widened eyes, she was suddenly flashed with her hallucination of Charlie looking over JP’s shoulder, quoting [i]For Whom The Bell Tolls[/i] by Ernest Hemingway. The rest went by like a blur but JP was pretty chill on letting her take it. Now here she was running to Charlie’s grave with a book. When she reached his headstone, finding it like she could see Charlie himself standing by it, she stopped right in front of it, out of breath. [color=fe6f5e]“Oh god, I’m out of shape.” [/color]

While trying to catch her breath, she cursed, [color=fe6f5e]“I… hate you. You’ve ruined me.”[/color] She wished she could punch him. She wished she could scream at him and blame him for making her fall in love with him. If she wasn’t so attached, her ptsd wouldn’t be driving her crazy. 

[color=fe6f5e]“Stupid, stupid, stupid.”[/color] She muttered, still breathing heavily, and then her gaze finally took in the condition of his grave and her anger dissipated to sadness. There seemed to be fresh spray paint that someone tried their best to clean off. There was so much moss and vines and it just made her frown. He was so dirty. Dropping on her knees, she glided her free hand on the words. It took her this long to see him. When she was running she straight up believed she would be screaming at a tombstone but now she was sitting in her grief, in the place where his corpse was rotting. [color=fe6f5e]“Charles Jay Decker, Beloved Son… the love of my life… they are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind. Tuscarora.”[/color]

Oh yepp. There it was. The tears.  The whole crying thing was getting old fast. How did she still have more tears in her eyes? When was she going to dry up? She so desperately wanted to dry up and stop hurting. But this was so hard, so painful, she didn’t know when this would all stop.  [color=fe6f5e]“Charlie, I need you.” [/color]

Penelope knelt on the dirt as the sun continued to set. A gorgeous orange hue in the sky kissed her cheeks, warming her when all she wanted to be was sad.. [color=fe6f5e]“Why did you leave me?”[/color] She pleaded to the air before taking fault for their shared past, [color=fe6f5e]“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m sorry… can we go back? I promise I’ll be better for you. I promise I’ll tell you how I feel. I promise…”[/color]

[color=D3D3D3]“Promise me a lifetime supply of bagels with cream cheese and I’ll rewind time itself.”[/color]

As if he has always been there, Charlie Decker sat next to Poppy James. As it always had been. His long, lanky frame dwarfed significantly. He interlocked his fingers across his shins as he lay his arms across his knees. His voice was still as deep as it ever was, his face for one inmarred with cuts and bruises from whatever mess he had gotten himself into on that given day. 

Charlie had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time but it seemed today that he was in the right place at the right time; not that he could be anywhere else, he was dead, his body was six feet below them dressed in the one suit he owned. With the dark chocolate eyes that carried so much, he took in Poppy for a moment before allowing his gaze to fall upon that which was pressed so firmly against her chest.

[color=D3D3D3]“It’s a good book.”[/color]

Abruptly, Poppy fell back, making sure the book never touched the ground, only her ass and one of her hands for support. [color=fe6f5e]“W-what are you doing here?”[/color] This wasn’t real, she knew it wasn’t but god it did feel like he was right there next to her. It might’ve been time to talk to Mrs. Ramsey and higher her medication dosage. She sat there, with such conflicted emotions, but underneath all the sadness and anger, there was only love. Even in his condition, he still was such a handsome, captivating, lovable fool. She loved this man so much, she really couldn’t see a future without him. 

[color=D3D3D3]“You called me?”[/color] Charlie responded. [color=D3D3D3]“Charlie, I need you? Ring any bells?…Damn woman did you butt dial me?”[/color] One of the many things lost to time and overwhelmed by his final actions was Charlie’s sense of humor. He was a little goofy, dry and self deprecating. Poppy was usually the one who got to see it the most, seeing as they spent all of their time together, loving from afar whilst being next to each other. 

[color=fe6f5e]“I just—“[/color] Penelope looked around to see if anyone was watching her. Did she look like a crazy person? Probably. [color=fe6f5e]“I just didn’t didn’t expect you to appear so suddenly.”[/color] Fixing her posture, Poppy sat cross legged on the dirt, calming her heart rate down to see if it could help her in this moment. Part of her wanted to hold him so close and tell him to never leave her side again. The other part, well… [color=fe6f5e]“Why did you push me away?!”[/color] Penelope barked at the idiot that she loved so much it fucking hurt. [color=fe6f5e]“Did I really mean that little to you?  Was there really nothing I could’ve said or done to prevent you from making the worst mistake of your life?”[/color] She didn’t expect to hear a response but if she could see him as clear as day, even for a moment, she would like to imagine he was there listening to her. 

To whoever was in charge of the afterlife, Poppy begged: [color=fe6f5e][i]Please hear me.[/i][/color]

The vision or apparition or whatever he was version of Charlie clicked his tongue as he looked towards the setting sun. It’s orange glow illuminated his caramel skin tone as he sighed. [color=D3D3D3]“You know, sometimes people do things that we’re just not meant to understand. We can try and try. We can rationalize, we can justify, we can beg but it won’t make a difference. Could you have stopped me? Not a chance. You mean everything to me but what I did, nothing was going to stop me.”[/color] He reached his hand down and placed it next to her, almost offering it for her to hold. [color=D3D3D3]“It happened. It’s time to let it go, let me go.”[/color]

Hearing that was like getting stabbed right in the chest. Her throat closed up and breathing was beyond difficult. [color=fe6f5e]“What are you saying?”[/color] She could feel her body shake, just like how her body felt yesterday but worse because she knew he was right… to a degree. Even so, she sure did hate hearing him say it outloud. Instinctively, Poppy wanted to curl up or run away. Instead, she forced herself to reach for his hand and not be afraid to take that leap of faith, even though the sensations going through her body were hard to bear. [color=fe6f5e]“I can still live and love you forever. I just… can’t let you go, Charlie. No, I refuse to let you go. Not in the way you want me to.”[/color]

[color=D3D3D3]“Well then, I guess that’s where we’re at. If you’re going to live, then live. Get out of your bedroom, get out of the cafe and go do something.”[/color] The spectre of the broken boy inhaled deeply, as if he was soaking up Poppy’s tragedy and insecurities and taking them for himself. [color=D3D3D3]“It’s the summer you know? There’s a lot to be found outside in the world past the Elder Tree….which is a great song by the way.”[/color] Charlie lay his back onto the ground and let his eyes stare up at a flock of birds overhead. [color=D3D3D3]“When you’re ready to let me go, you might wanna give my book a read…though it gathering dust in your bedroom drawer is actually kinda cool, adds a level of mythology to it. A murder crows, bad omen.”[/color]

He was right. Even if he stayed in her heart, even if no one could replace him, Pops needed to find reasons to live on. For him, for Maxine, for all those that were lost, and for herself. At the end of the day, she only had one life. Poppy sobbed and laughed at the same time, [color=fe6f5e]“You’re such an idiot.”[/color] Instead of sulk in misery, Penelope laid beside her forever love, her hand inches away from his as she looked up at the sky. [color=fe6f5e]“I miss you, you know that?”[/color]

[color=D3D3D3]“Course I do, who else would climb through your bedroom window with bagels? Not a living soul.”[/color]  [i]Living soul[/i] was such an on the Bose way to put it but then that was Charlie. He didn’t pay no mind to a little thing called taste. [color=D3D3D3]“I’m only six feet away if you ever need to talk, Pops. Promise.”[/color]

[color=fe6f5e]“No, you’re right here.”[/color] She placed the book on her chest, her heart, to show that he would always be with her, wherever she went. [color=fe6f5e]“I’ll never forget you, Charlie Decker.”[/color]

Charlie smiled as he reached over to her and placed his hand atop the book she clung to desperately. [color=D3D3D3]“There will always be people who say it does not exist because they cannot have it. But I tell you it is true and that you have it and that you are lucky even if you die tomorrow,”[/color]  He turned his head to take in Poppy James’ beauty once more. [color=D3D3D3]“Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls. It’s a good book.”[/color] With the dispersal of the murder above them, he faded back into the ether. 

Staring at the sky, her surroundings started to grow dark. Before Penelope realized it, she had fallen asleep just as Charlie quoted the book and disappeared. It’s been a long time since she was able to fall asleep like this. She should visit him more often…

A couple hours later her father found her, picked her up as she faded in and out, and brought her home.

[center][i][color=fe6f5e]For Whom the Bell Tolls. 
Ernest Hemingway.
A good book.[/color][/i] [/center]
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